File-case.



No. 780,015. v PATENTED JAN. l0, 1905.

" P. J. A. VAN DEINSE.

PLE OASE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T. 17.1901.

(IIIIII wal; m

No. 780,015.V

Starte Patented January 10, 1905..

PATENT OFFICE.

PAULUS J. A. VAN DEINSE, OF GREENVILLE1 MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE GORDON HOLLOW BLAST GRATE (iOlVlPANY, OE GREENVILLE,

MICHIGAN.

MLK-OASE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. I780,015, dated January 10, 1905. Application filed October 17, 1901. Serial No. 79,018.

To al?, whom t may con/cern:

Be it known that I, PAULUs J. A. VANv DEiNsu, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greenville, in the county of Montcalm and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful File-Oase, of which the following is a speeilication.

In businesslife it is often of vital importance and very often of great advantage to have the attention called to a certain matter at a certain datein the future, .and lack of an adequate system for this purpose imposes a considerable tax on the memory and frequently involves failure to attend to an important 1natter at a critical moment.

The purpose of the present invention is to entirely relieve the mind of this burden, to insure attention to matters at the proper date, and to provide, if desired, a brief mefnorandum of what has already transpired in relation to it, all at a minimum of expense and labor.

Another object is to provide an improved fle-case for containing memoranda concerning future matters and arranged to maintain such memoranda in separate compartments corresponding to the days of the month, so that by a glance at the case it may be readily determined whether or not there are anyniatters for attention upon any particular day.

It is furthermore designed to arrange for adjusting the size of the day-compartments, so as to accommodate for the number of cards or other memoranda to be contained therein and also to arrange for closing the compartments corresponding to Sundays and legal holidays, so as to prevent the insertion of memoranda into such compartments, thereby to obviate mistakes arising through holidays and Sundays.

Final objects are to provide an improved arrangen'ient of month-compartments which are adjustable to accommodate .for more or less memoranda and also arranged in convenient relation wi th respect to the day-compartinents, so that memoranda may be readily removed from each month-compartment and distributed in the day-compartments- With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the aecompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims withoutdeparting from the spirit or saeriiieing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of a lilo-case embodying the present invention. `Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof. Eig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the adjustable shelves. Eig. i is a detail perspective view of one of the devices for closing the holiday and Sunday compartments.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In carrying' out the present invention there is provided an upright substantially rectangular frame or case l, which may be open in the front to expose theinterior thereof, but is preferably provided with a glass door 2 to exclude dust and at the same time expose to view the interior of the ease. Although not shown, I contemplate employing a roll-front in lieu of the glass door whenever such -an arrangement may be desired.

Within the case there is provided a plurality of upright partitions 3, preferably four in number, which extend from the top to the bottom and from the front to the back of the case, thereby dividing the latter into live ver tical sections, all of which correspond in wid th. The inner sides of the opposite ends of the ease and the opposite faces of the partitions are provided with corresponding transverse grooves, seats, or ways 4 for the removable reception of the opposite beveled edges of a plurality of horizontal shelves or partitions 5, whereby each vertical section is divided into a plurality of smaller compartments, which are adjustable in size by means of the several removable horizontal partitions and the ways or seats thereof. Each shelf or partition 5 is provided with asegmental notch or recess 6 in its front edge to facilitate the withdrawal of cards or papers from the adjacent compartment, as will be readily understood.

As best illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that each opposite end section is provided with siX horizontal partitions or shelves, so as to divide the section into siX compartments corresponding' to six months of the year, and the front edge of each of these compartments is marked in the order of the month of the year from the upper partition of the left-hand compartment to the lower partition of the right-hand compartment, whereby the month-compartments for the first half of the year are at the left of the case and the month-compartments for the last half of the yearare at the right side of the case, the labels or other marking means 7 being located adjacent to the inner edges of the shelves, so as to be effectually displayed through the glass panel of the door, as the outer portions of the shelves are concealedby the frame of the door.

The compartments shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings have been arranged for the month of July, 1901, wherein a legal holiday falls on the 4th of the month, and Sundays fall on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of the month. To indicate these days and to prevent the introduction of cards or other memoranda into those compartments, there are provided means for closing the corresponding compartment, preferably as illustrated in Fig. 4. of the drawings, wherein has been shown a drawer comprising a bottom 8, having front and rear ends 9 and l0, respectively, the upper edge of the front end being provided with a segmental notch or recess 11 for insertion of the fingers to facilitate the insertion and removal of the drawer. r[he outer side of the front end of the drawer is provided with an inscription to indicate Sunday or a legal holiday, preferably by printing such words upon the end of the drawer. In arranging the day-compartments for any month the horizontal partitions or shelves corresponding to the legal holidays and Sundays are placed in the seats or ways which are next to the partition corresponding to the previous day, so as to form a comparatively small compartment for the reception of one of the closures, the front and rear ends of which are of a size to completely close the space between the two shelves or partitions, thereby to prevent the insertion of memoranda in such compartments, it being customary to place the memoranda for holidays and Sundays in the next previous compartment, so that there may be no mistake or delay in attending` to such matters as may fall upon the holiday or Sunday.

The method of using the invention is as follows: Then it is desiredvto be reminded of a matter at a specified date in 'the future, a suitable memorandum is made, preferably on a card, to secure uniformity in size, which is inserted in the compartment representing the month in which such day comes unless it is in the current month, in which event it is deposited directly in the appropriate compartment in the daily section.

The first day of every month the case is arranged in the following manner: The cardholder is made to display the card bearing the name of the month to apprise all that the case has been suitably arranged. The size of the compartments for days on which Sundays and legal holidays fall, if any, are reduced to the minimum by properly spacing the adjustable shelves. The appropriate drawers are then inserted to close such compartments and prevent the insertion of any cards therein, which cards are deposited instead with those for the preceding day to insure attention in time. The remaining shelves in the daily section are then so placed as to make the compartments for days on which there are many cards of the requisite size, taking the necessary space from such compartments as are likely to contain but few cards. The shelves and drawers in the daily section having thus been suitably disposed, (the drawing illustrates the case as arranged for July, 1901,) the cards contained in the monthly compartment for that month are distributed in the daily section. Every day the cards for that day are removed and the matters thereon referred to attended to. Should further action be required, the card is restored to the case under the proper future date. If desired, in such cases a memorandum of what has been done or any other pertinent information, such as a promise to pay on a certain day, may be brieiiy noted on the card for future guidance. Cards relating to recurring matterssuch as interest on a mortgage, premiums on a life-insurance policy, changes in advertisements, making` out pension vouchers, &c.-may be replaced in the case each time and used indefinitely, saving cards and labor.

The importance of the adjustability in the size of the compartments is very great, as in most lines of business there are days when there are an unusually large number of matters claiming attention, which days may vary from month to month, so that this feature is indispensable to adapt the file-case to any and all lines of business or, indeed, to the varying requirements of any line of business. It is also evident that if the compartments are to be adjustable the shelves forming them must carry the name of the month or the day of the month, as the case may be, that the two may move in unison.

At the top of the glass door or upon any other preferred portion thereof there is provided a card-holding device 12 for displaying a card bearing the name of the current month, so that at the expiration of any month it may lOO IIO

be readily determined Whether the day-come partments have been arranged for the next month.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present invention provides an exceedingly simple and useful device for insuring the prompt attention to matters re quiring attention upon future dates and is constructed so as to be conveniently arranged foreach month in the year and also to prevent mistakes occurring' on account of holidays and Sundays.

What l claim is A tile-ease, comprising a back, side walls, a series of vertical partitions, horizontal shelves fitted in the partitions and dividing the same into vertical rows of compartments, the outer rows corresponding to the months of the year, and the inner' rows corresponding to the days of the months and provided with narrow com partments corresponding to the Sundays and legal holidays, the horizontal shelves of the inner rows being' shiftable to arrange the narrow compartments at the proper intervals, and removable drawers corresponding in num- 'ber to the Sundays and legal holidays and iit- 

